“Everyone mashed our ideas together to make this incredible story”: Examining the impact of the regrowth project.

Abstract

This PhD thesis examines applied site-specific theatre as a hybrid form of performance that engages directly with communities and environments post-crisis. Positioned at the intersection of applied and site-specific practices, the research investigates what happened to participants of the Regrowth applied site-specific theatre workshop. Using the workshop as a bounded qualitative case study, the study employs qualitative methods, including participant-observer observation and semi-structured interviews, to examine how five participants navigated personal and communal narratives through applied site-specific theatre making. The workshop’s site-specific framework places performance within the geographical, cultural, and historical contexts of the South Coast of New South Wales, exploring the relationship between place and identity.

The findings indicate that participants experienced increased self-confidence, a deeper engagement with environmental concerns, and strengthened social bonds with other participants and their local community through drama processes. The Regrowth workshop provided opportunities for participants to develop agency and personal growth through an inclusive, collaborative approach to applied site-specific theatre. By integrating personal narratives with broader environmental themes, participants engaged in sensemaking processes that helped them articulate ecological concerns through performance. This research contributes to the understanding of applied site-specific theatre by examining its role in community-based settings. It considers how ethical and inclusive approaches to theatre-making can be applied in post-disaster and educational settings, advocating for the broader use of arts-based interventions to support community engagement and recovery.